Farmers from Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh have gheraoed Delhi's national capital region for the past two weeks, blocking all borders as they remain firm on their demand to repeal the contentious agriculture laws.
Thousands of farmers, along with trade unions and other people have joined the protest in spite of cold winters and difficulties. The government has assured the agitators that the new laws are for their benefit, however, farmers still fear that their livelihood will be severely affected.
At the centre of it all, the farmers are protesting three laws that the Government of India passed during the Monsoon Session of the Parliament in September this year.
These are - the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020; Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020; and The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act 2020.
They want a complete rollback of the farm laws.
What does the government say?
The government has been firm that the new laws are going to bring an ecosystem that will give farmers the freedom of choice to sell and purchase their produce inter-state and intra-state.
The Centre said that it will be beneficial to not only farmers but also traders and consumers.
The government has also said that farmers will be able to engage in direct marketing of their crops.
What do farmers fear?
Farmers across the country are apprehensive that if the new bills become law, they will not get the Minimum Support Price (commonly known as MSP) they have been demanding from the government for months, as the proposed legislation does not specify any method of determining the "guaranteed price" farmers will get.
They fear the government will no longer continue the procurement of farm produce at MSP.
Mandis, where farmers have been selling their produce until now, will cease to function as big private players will dictate prices of farm produce.
As a result, these very big companies will be in advantage in case of disputes.
What are the provisions under the new laws?
* Farmers will be to enter into a contract with processors, wholesalers, aggregators, large retailers and exporters directly so as to realise the full price of the produce
* Farmers be rest-assured of the price of their produce even before sowing of crops
* Farmers will not be charged any cess or transport cost at the time of sale
* Farmers will get access to modern technology, better seed and other inputs that enable better growth of the produce
What's the road ahead?
With the Centre-farmer talks ending in a stalemate, thousands of farmers stayed put at Delhi borders on Wednesday to press for repeal of the agri marketing laws. A meeting called by Home Minister Amit Shah ended in failure on the previous night.
Farmer leaders rejected the government's offer to amend new farm laws and said they would settle for nothing less than the scrapping of the legislations.
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